How to live like a modern-day Thoreau

And three strategies to reclaim your sanity

Henry David Thoreau left his hometown of Concord for Walden Pond to get a breather from consumerism, the hustle and bustle of the city and all the BS pressures of society. For two years he lived in a cabin that he built himself, where he spent his time reading, swimming, gardening, observing wild life, and meditating. Most famously he wrote a series of 18 essays reflecting on nature and living a simple life.

This was one bonafide Sensitive Dude, if I’ve ever seen one. 

Walden Pond, however, was only a 20 minute walk from Concord and actually on his mom’s property. Occasionally, Henry’s mom would bring him sandwiches and do his laundry. 

It’s like if you went from San Francisco to Oakland, from Tokyo to Chiba, or Brooklyn to Manhattan to ‘escape the city,’ and then having your mom drop by with some homemade PB&Js (strawberry jam please!) and to wash your dirty undies.

It shoots down the image of Thoreau as this rugged, self-sustaining wise philosopher living off the land. More like a dude taking a long, free vacation to write in his journal posing as a hermit. 

But that’s not giving him justice. Despite the proximity and being a bit of a mama’s boy, Thoreau was able to step outside of the daily grind, capitalist society, and to a large extent the Matrix. What did he find? 

“Many men go fishing all their lives, without knowing it is not fish that they are after.”

And

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”

And

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves…”

And a lot of other insights that inspired generations after him.

Look, if Thoreau could pull out these insights 20 minutes from home, and before they discovered penicillin, so can you. You don’t need to live off the grid, milk your own cows or chop your own firewood for two years, either. 

Here are three ways to step outside of the Matrix like a modern-day Thoreau and reclaim a bit of your sanity.

#1 Do nothing 

Nike says, “Just do it.” Buddha says, “Do nothing.” Who are you going to listen to, a sneaker brand or a dude who freed himself from all suffering?

Doing nothing is the opposite of what society wants you to do, which is precisely why it’s a good idea. Doing nothing means staring out the window, daydreaming, and not checking your email 157 times a day. No goals. Just nothing. 

Did people 2000 years ago wear their busy-ness as a badge of honor like we did? I’m not so sure. Aristotle said that we should have a balance between activity and contemplation. There is a fine balance, and we tend to skew towards one. You know, your lazy friend vs. your workaholic friend. Neither are role models, and many of us in particular are workaholics. 

I’m sure your days can be action-packed. Yet listing out all the things you need to do and executing tasks faster doesn’t seem to create lasting joy and happiness. Honestly, floating in a tank full of epsom salts or eating vanilla ice cream is more enjoyable than 99% of meetings I've been to.

Another Sensitive Dude, Blaise Pascal, said “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pretty impressive that he realized this 400 years before Instagram. What did he mean?

In a work-centric problem-solving action-oriented nation-conquering hyper-rational world, the answer to most of our problems often lies on the other end of the spectrum — not doing. Or, doing less. Not thinking. Going minimalist. Doing 4-hour work week type of stuff. We could all use more of this, especially those of us who are hyper-active and addicted to our busy-ness and incessant liking/sharing (please like and share this post, though). There’s a funny video my friend sent me that sums it up:

“Do nothing at every possible moment, but if you have to do something, do the absolute minimum. But it is most preferable to do fuck all. Sleep in. Take as many sick days as legally possible. Give no fucks.”

That doesn’t mean neglect your responsibilities and be a total bum. BUT. Sometimes you need some bum-like qualities to correct for all the Success.Fame.Money porn we’ve been fed.

I used to grind it out all the time, until I locked myself in a room during the pandemic for 6 months to “work on my startup.” I came out a broken man and then spent two years picking up the pieces. Oops, maybe I tried too hard. 

The Paradox of Intention says that we can reach our goals by giving up our attempt to reach them. Yes! This happens everywhere: our relationships, jobs, exercise, etc. A Shaolin monk doesn’t walk around tensing up – his body is relaxed and attentive, ready to strike from any direction. 

This is what you can do: Wake up tomorrow and say, “I’m just going to let things happen today. No planning. No effort. No pressure to be the best, or to be anyone. When I have down time, I’ll drink some tea, sing a song, play catch, stare out the window, or go for a walk with no aim. Mostly, I’ll just take a break. I’ll do nothing.”

Doing nothing ironically requires some planning, so leave a blank in your calendar. Don’t try and schedule things. If people look at you funny, just laugh. See what happens…notice what you are drawn to.

The lock is already unlocked, there’s no need to force it. 

#2 Do empowering sh*t in between your Zoom meetings

When you’re not doing nothing or eating ice cream, you can at least do stuff that gives you energy. Energy management trumps time management every time. 

Da Vinci wrote,

“It is a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation. . . . When you come back to the work, your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgment.”

I assume that you have a job, work a lot from home, and have to do things that you don’t want to do when you don’t have the energy, i.e., the fifteenth Zoom call listening to your colleague Janet complain about her retarded dog.¹

A good way to express yourself is to stick a middle finger up in the air. Not in the meeting, but in between meetings. And then, do something that gives you energy.  

Examples of what you can do in between Zoom meetings: 

1. Take a long, hot bath

2. Shake your booty

3. Write a LinkedIn recommendation for someone

4. Get a massage

5. Have sex

6. Go for a walk

7. Sing songs from the Amazon jungle like my friend Loic Le Meur (check out his newsletter here) — he actually does this in between his meetings

8. Play video games (BeatSaber on Oculus recommended)

9. Dance

10. Read something inspirational (recently I read James Altucher’s Choose Yourself and Skip the Line)

11. Jam out on some instrument

12. Do something nice for someone – your partner, friend, coworker, a stranger

13. Karaoke

14. Yoga

15. Meditate

16. Call a friend/family member

17. Breathe like a motherf*cker like my friend Tim (video here)

18. Hum for 10 minutes (this quiets down your buzzy mind)

19. Rawrrr like a lion

20. Do 100 pushups

21. Jump up and down and shake your arms making funny noises

For example, before writing this post I did a meditation session, jumped up and down shaking around, and played my ukulele for a few minutes. I’m sure you can add more to the above list. Just make sure it gives you energy. 

#3 Short-term solo trips 

On a trip to Bali a few months ago, my local guide introduced me to snakeskin fruit. This roundish fruit looks like an old, spiky scrotum. You peel it and the inside is sort of like a harder lychee fruit. I was hesitant but I tried it. It tasted different – I couldn’t quite put my finger on it because it was so new.

Eventually, I warmed up to the taste. I changed my mind. This is something that a lot of us should be doing more of. Not eating scrotum fruit, but daring to try and changing our minds. You know what they say: A rigid mind full of opinions spoken as fact is a sure way to know that you’re going to get Alzheimer’s.

This is why I think everyone should take a solo trip, at least twice a year. This is a legit Thoreau move. The benefit of travel is that it can loosen you up a bit. The change in scenery breaks your routine — and a break in routine is what you need to get out of the endless loop of Ground Hog Day syndrome. Doing it solo allows you to step outside of your normal grind, pressure dissipates, new ideas come flooding in, and oftentimes feelings that you’ve been ignoring bubble up. This is your contemplation time.

Some people say travel is bad for the environment. Good news for you. If you’re worried about CO2 emissions from that 747 jumbo jet, Google Flights has a new CO2  tracker so you can pick a flight that kills fewer kangaroos. Or, take a train, if you have those in your country. 

Other people say travel is overrated. That you need to “Get to work” and find your passion, or whatever, and that travel is a distraction. Stop looking for something, you’re already where you need to be! …Maybe. It’s no coincidence that most saints and sages have had some travel/journey away from him as integral to their path.

So, go tap into your nomadic nature. Book a trip an hour or two, or less, from where you live. Preferably in nature, and preferably by yourself. Hike a mountain, journal until your hand hurts, skip rocks in a lake and scream at the top of your lungs like a lunatic. 

Go find the hairy-scrotum fruit in a not-too-far-away land and let it change your mind.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment below and let’s chat.

1. This is based on the true story of my friend who has a colleague that is constantly talking about her disabled dog. Poor pup.